Gratitude

"Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn, or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude." --Denis Waitley

When we think of things we’re grateful for, we often think big: our God, our health, our country, our freedoms, our planet, our churches, our communities, our families, our friends. I am deeply grateful for these all the year through, but this Thanksgiving, I’m consciously focusing on the little stuff that makes the big stuff real in my daily life, as well as the little stuff I sometimes take for granted or might occasionally find annoying. So here’s a thoroughly random and definitely incomplete list of little things from 2008 for which I am grateful.

*Traffic lights and the people who pay attention to them

*Gloria at Barnes and Noble who always asks after Jack while she’s making my mocha

*My in-laws for buying Ghirardelli’s hot chocolate mix so I could make mochas at their house last summer

*Stampin’Up!’s 50+ colors of coordinating cardstock and inks

*Binary code

*The mailman, UPS man, FedEX man, and DHL woman who bring stuff right to my door

*The tote bag my mom and sister bought for me at Monticello that says “I cannot live without books”… Thomas Jefferson and I have a lot in common

*Dog fur…because I found a single, six-inch strand of Shemya’s white fur in my leather-bound copy of The Lord of the Rings, proving that she’s really still with me nine years after leaving to wait for me at the Rainbow Bridge

*My new gravy boat from Target

*Sugar, in all its forms, but especially when accompanied by chocolate

*The wonderful pictures of our kids that George takes, his cooking, and the way he plays Monster with the boys almost every night

*Nick’s imagination, enthusiasm, and hugs

*The way Jack says, “Mommy, I love you sooo much!” all day long and how he wants everyone to be happy

*The leather seat warmers in my car…because a warm bottom is a happy bottom

*The cards my friends Angela and Liz and Lois sent for no reason other than to make me smile

*Company, because I love that people will come to stay at my house and it makes me clean the whole house a couple of times a year whether I want to or not

*Pine Sol

*Avery address labels

*Red wine

*The dictionary

*Being able to flip a switch and have light

*Color and the eyes to see it

*Craft store coupons

*The basket I keep all my bills in and the fact we can pay them all on time every month

*The tiny twinkling stars in the night sky…because they remind me of an important thing called perspective and make me wonder all sorts of things, and wonder is very, very good (sort of like thinking, but with awe thrown in for good measure)

*People who read my blog

Happy Thanksgiving!

What are you grateful for?